Port Antonio

Port Antonio, town, on the northeast coast of Jamaica, about 60 miles (100 km) northeast of Kingston. One of the island’s largest ports, it is a shipping point for bananas, coconuts, and cacao and is one of Jamaica’s oldest and least-commercialized tourist resorts. It lies on a bay divided by a promontory into East and West harbours; the West Harbour is sheltered by small Navy Island. There are fine beaches in the vicinity and excellent deep-sea fishing, sailing, and skin diving, especially at Blue Hole Lagoon. The annual Port Antonio International Marlin Tournament attracts many people for competitive sportfishing. A curiously surrealistic intrusion into this tropical paradise is the Folly Ruins, the decaying remains of a Roman-style villa built by an American millionaire at the turn of the 20th century. Pop. (2011) urban area, 14,816.